Miracles present themselves in many ways...

Attending the preschool Christmas party yesterday morning was a success. Brandon, who is in Las Vegas for the BYU bowl game right now, took the camera with him (ahhh!), but good friends snapped some photos of #2 with the very fake-looking Santa.

All Neighbor Gifts are delivered! After lunch (still yesterday), the children were the "runners" as we drove all over town delivering gifts to each worthy household. What made them "worthy"? Mostly just some connection we have with them other than knowing who they are --I wish I could give gifts to every single person we know, but it's just impossible. Maybe one day it might be a possibility...

I hired a sitter for the boys last night, and it was GNO! (girl's night out) #1, #2 and I had several errands to run, and I promised them dinner at a "Restwant". We had to go to #1's gymnastics class first and this is where the night of miracles began:

• Finding out that the next session of gymnastics had already been paid for?! How did that happen?
• Finding a UPS store on our way to somewhere else!
• Enjoying a great dinner at Mimi's and having the BEST waitress --EVER! She was sweet, non-invasive, great with the kids --and on our way out, she brought them refills of their drinks in brand new little cups. How sweet is that?!
• Finding the LDS bookstore to be on our way to Target (in the proximity to Mimi's) and getting a lot of what we needed in that one stop.
• Going into the zoo-like parking lot at Target and arriving just in time to get an amazing parking spot.
• Finding almost everything we needed at Target, including stocking stuffers for moi.
• Resolving that I will have to shop again the next day, but then seeing the store I needed the most still open and finding exactly what I needed and it was on sale!!
• Coming home to find the house fairly clean, the boys very happy, and children going to sleep pretty quickly after an exhausting day.

As a mother, you cannot buy days like this. I am so very grateful! The biggest miracle of all? Doing it on my own, while Brandon was driving to Nevada. Usually, when he leaves, something terrible happens (flooding, flat tires, infestations, ER visits). So far, so good! Wait --he doesn't come home until tomorrow. Ahh! I better go knock on some wood...

Last Thoughts:

Here is a healthy dose of reality: My childhood friend received a double-lung transplant just in time for Christmas. She has waited her entire life to breathe a clean, unlabored breath. And now she can. That is truly a miracle! (make sure you scroll down to read about all the updates on her progress.)